Augusts lumiere and louis lumiere



(No Model.)

A. 811 L. LUMIERE.

PICTURE EXHIBITOR.

Patented Oct. 19,1897.

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Nrrnn STATES AUGUSTE LUMIERE AND LOUIS LUMlERE, OF LYONS, FRANCE.

PICTURE-EXHIBITOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,858, dated October 19, 1897.

Application filed January 21,1897. Serial No. 620,145. (No model.) Patented in France September 10, 1896, No. 259,515, and in England October 19, 1896,11'0. 23,183.

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that we, AUGUSTE LUMIERE and LOUIS LUMIERE, citizens of the Republic of France, residing at Lyons, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Picture-Exhibitors, of which the following is a specification.

The invention has been patented in France September 10, 1896, No. 259,515, and in Great Britain October 19, 1896, No. 23,183.

The apparatus forming the object of this invention is designed to produce a direct vision of chronophotographic pictures. It is distinguished from similar devices by the manner of presenting the pictures, which will be readily understood with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a horizontal section. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the curved cards.

The successive views or pictures of an animated scene obtained by the kinematograph of Lumiere or by any other similar apparatus are pasted on cards M or other elastic and opaque supports of curved form, the pictures being on the concave side. These cards are gathered together and joined, in the same order of succession as that in which the pictures have been taken, on a shaft or hub A, where they are firmly held by the disks B B or in any other suitable manner, radiating from the hub in all directions.

If the hub or shaft is turned in the direction of the arrow X, Fig. 1, tappet O, placed a little above the center of the cards, catches the ends of the cards slightly. The cards are first kept back and bent by the tappet from a curved to a plane surface and then swing off to return to their normal position, thereby forming an empty sector D, as shown in Fig. 1. If the rotary movement is continued, the cards thus kept back swing off one after another in regular intervals and pass rapidly the space of the empty sector in order to return by the action of their elasticity to their original position. The projection of the tappet O is regulated so that the free space of the sector D allows the picture on the card kept back to be perceived through the opening E, and this picture is illuminated. directly by the daylight or by any artificial light coming in the direction of the arrow Y through the lateral opening F of the box.

The observer looking through the opening E will see the pictures successively in a state of complete rest, but still the successive visions will be separated only by the infinitely shorttime which a card takes to pass the sector D. Though the edge of the card which escapes from the tappet O cannot possibly coincide with the edge of the following card which is kept back, this difference may by lowering the tappet near to the line passing through the center of the cards be rendered so slight that the eye will not perceive the lateral movement in the succession of the two pictures.

The back of each card and the parts which are not covered by the picture are blackened, so as to avoid the reflection of the light during the stay and passage of the card in the field of vision. The opening E may be provided with a lens G for magnifying the pictures and with any other known arrangement for better observation.

As the hub or shaftbearing the cards shall make but one revolution or a fraction of a revolution for the vision of a scene, .and therefore turns only with a moderate speed, it may be actuated by hand through suitable gearings, or by a spring-motor placed in H, Fig. 2.

It is easy to stop the motor, when the exhibition of a scene is over, by the click J catching the pins Z, which are placed on a wheel borne by the card-bearing hub. If the latter shall be put in action again, it is only necessary to lift the click J, whereby another exhibition of the same scene or the exhibition of a new scene is obtained.

What we claim as our invention is A picture-exhibitor comprising a shaft, a series of cards about the same concaved longitudinally from the inner to the outer end and being flat transversely, and means for contacting with the outer ends of said cards IOO 

